Toy automobile



C. G. HERBST TOY AUTOMOBILE June 12, 1934.

Filed April 12, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTO R C lif ford G. Herbst.

ATTORNE C. G. HERBST TOY AUTOMOBILE June 12, 1934.

, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 12 4 g r 4 &

INVENTOR Clifford G.Herbst. BY

Patented June 12, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

1,962,870 TOY AUTOMOBILE Application April 12, 1933, Serial No. 665,699

11 Claims.

This invention relates to toys, and more particularly to a toy automobile in' which a siren is suitably connected to an operating part thereof so that it produces a prolonged warning signal of varying pitch while the automobile is in motion.

One object of this invention is to provide a toy automobile of the above nature which is adapted to be propelled by a key-wound spring motor causes the siren to operate automatically.

A further object of this invention is to provide a motor driven toy vehicle of the above nature in which a ratchet clutch mechanism is located between the rear axle and the motor so that the vehicle may be manually propelled independently of the spring motor.

A further object is to provide a machine of this nature which will be relatively simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to manipulate, compact, ornamental in appearance, and very efficient and durable in use.

With these and other 'objects in view, there has been illustrated on the accompanying drawing s, one form in which the invention may be conveniently embodied in practice. 4

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 represents a view in side elevation of a toy automobile with certain parts broken away 30 to show the interior construction.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view of the same, taken along .the line 3 -3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal fragmentary sectional view of the same, taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the siren with the cover removed to show the fan construction.

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of the siren.

Fig. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the rear axle and th eyelet device for locking the wheels thereupo Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view taken through the switch mechanism along the line 8-8 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 indicates the chassis of a toy automobile having a body 11, which is equipped with the usual form of running boards 12,.rear fenders 13, front fenders 14, front and rear bumpers and 16,

and a rear spare tire casing 17. The vehicle is preferably mounted to runlupon a pair of dirigeared to the rear axle, the rotation of which gible front wheels 18 and a pair of rear driving or traction wheels 19.

The Wheels-18 are rotatably mounted upon the ends of a front axle, shaft 20, which ends in turn are journaled in a pair of depending lugs 21 formed at the opposite ends of a bolster member 22, swivelly connected to the under side of the chassis 10 as by means of a single rivet stud 23. The'bolster member 22 is provided with av pair of forwardly extending arms 24, to which the front. bumper 15 may be integrally connected, thus permitting said bumper to turn with the bolster member 22 as a unit.

Moto'r unit Motive power is supplied to the toy vehicle by means of-a spring motor mechanism 25 located in the rear part of the chassis 10, as best shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. a The motor mechanism 25 is incased by and supported within a drop frame 26 attached to the underside of the chassis as by a plurality of locking lugs 27.

The motor mechanism'comprises a relatively high-power coil spring 28 located at one side of the chassis 10 and adapted to be wound up by manipulation of a loop-shaped key 29 extending from the right-hand side of the vehicle,-as viewed in Fig. 3. The inner end 28a of the spring v28 is detachably secured in any suitable manner to a hub 30 rotatably journaled in a pair of upright lugs 31 extending upwardly through the chassis 10 and forming an integral part of the drop frame 26. The outer end 28b 'of the coil spring '28 may be attached to any convenient part of the chassis 10, and as herein shown (Fig. 4), is extended downwardly through said chassis and secured to the drop frame 26. The winding key 29 is provided with an elongated shaft 32 having "a threaded extremity, not shown, which is adapted to engage in atapped central hole in the hub 30 in such a manner that when the key 29 is turned in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 1,'the spring 28 will be wound up, but when the key 29 is turned in the reverse direction, the key shaft 32 will be unscrewed from the hub 30 without un- 1 9 winding said spring 28. I Secured upon the same hub 30 with the spring 28 is a relatively large driving gear 33 which is adapted to intermesh with a small pinion 34 freely mounted upon a rear driving axle 35', the latter 1 5 bei journaled in the side walls 36 and 370i the drop frame26. As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the gear 33 is slightly spaced from an intermediate wall'38 of the frame 26 by means of a circular flange 39 interposed between said wall 38 and intermediate wall 38, 'and adds considerably to the durability of the mechanism. I

In order to permit the toy vehicle to be pushed or drawn along the floor by a cord independently of the motor mechanism, and to allow the spring 28 to be wound up while the rear traction wheels are held from turning, a one-way clutch mecha- .nism is provided between the large gear 33 and the rear driving axle 35. For this purpose, the loose pinion 34 has an integral sleeve 40 which projects through a suitable aperture in the intermediate wall 38, and is provided with a disc plate 41 rigidly secured upon the end thereof, as shown in Fig. 3.

Located adjacent the disc plate 41 is a ratchet ,wheel 42 rigidly attached to the axle 35, as by a set screw 43. The teeth of the ratchet wheel 42 are adapted to be engaged by a pawl 44, pivotally attached to the lateral surface of the disc plate 41 by means of a stud rivet 45. The pawl 44 is held in resilient contact with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 42 at all times, by means of a leaf spring 46 pivotally attached to the lateral surface of said disc plate 41, by means of arivet pin 47, and adapted to be tensioned by a pin 48, as best shown in Fig. 4.

It will be obvious from the above construction that when the spring 28 isbeing woundup, the pinion 34 and the attached disc 41 will be rotated upon the axle 35 in a counter-clockwise direction, causing the pawl 44 to slip around the ratchet wheel 42. When the spring 28 is unwinding, the gear 33 will be rotated in a counter-clockwise direction, causing the pinion 34 and disc 41 to revolve in a clockwise direction, which latter motion will obviously cause the pawl 44 to engage between the teeth of the ratchet wheel 42 and rotate the axle 35 and attached traction wheels 19, thereby propelling the toy vehicl'e in'a forward direction.

If desired, a spacing collar 49 may be interposed between the wall 36 and the pinion 34, in order to prevent the latter from sliding longitudinally upon said shaft 35.

Siren mechanism -housing (as shown in Fig. 3) extends down through an opening in the body of the chassis 10 and is secured at an intermediate position therein, as by screw bolls 5'7. The fan member 53 is rigid on'a vertical shaft 58 extending concentrically into the siren 50, and said shaft is suitably journaled in theopposite horizontal walls of the gear box 55.

In order to cause the fan to be rapidly rotated, when the car is in motion, the shaft 58'is provided with a pinion 59 adapted to intermesh with a horizontal gear 60 rigidly supported by a sleeve 61 rotatable about an arbor 62 vertically secured to the gear box 55, as shown in Fig. 3. Located directly underneath the gear 60 and forming an integral part of the sleeve 61 is anotherpinion 63 which isadapted to mesh with a crown gear 64. The crown gear 64 is made rigid toathe driving axle 35 by means of a collar 65 and set screw 66, and said gear 64 isheld in mesh with the pinion 63 at all times by reason of the spacing collar 49 previously referred to, and a thrust collar 67 secured to the axle 35, as by a set screw 68. The thrust collar 6'7 lies in flat contact with the vertical wall 3'7 of the drop frame 26, so as to prevent lateral movement of the shaft 35 relative to said frame 26.

It will be obvious from the above construction that when the car is set in motion either under its own motor power or by pushing or pulling it manually, the fan 53 within the siren unit 50 will be rapidly rotated by means of the step-up train the gear box 55 operated by the of gears within When the fan 53 is thus set in rear axle 35.

motion, air will be sucked in through a plurality restrains or controls the speed of the vehicle and consequently the speed of unwinding of the spring motor. This checking or controlling force of the air is variable, depending upon the speed at which the vehicle is moving. For instance, when the car is moving at its maximum rate of speed the pressure of the air against the blades 54 is greater than when the car is increasing or decreasing its 9.0-

celeration. Thus, by reason of this arrangement the siren in addition to serving as a means for producing sound, while the car is in motion, also serves to control the unwinding of the motor,-so that the period of operation of the car is considerably longer than would be possible without such means.

It will be understood that, if desired, means may be provided for shutting off the siren so that it will be inoperative when the toy is in motion.

- It is to be also understood that, while the siren unit 50 is herein shown as horizontally mounted upon-the chassis 10 of the automobile, it is within the scope of the invention to mount the siren 50 in a vertical position and operate the same through a train of gearing driven directly by the axle 35.

In order to hold the traction wheels 18 at rest during the winding of the spring 28, a manually operated brake lever '71, located at the right rear wheel (Fig. 1), is pivotally attached by means of an eyelet rivet stud '72 to a depending skirt '73 forming a part of the chassis 10. The lower end of the lever '71 is constructed with an outwardly bent arcuate section, or brake shoe '74, which is adapted to frictionally engage the tire of the rear right wheel 19, and thus prevent rotation of the rear axle and wheels when the brake lever '71 is moved in a counter-clockwise direction.

The improved means for attaching the rear wheels 19 to the ends of the axle 35 is best shown in Figs. 3 and 7, wherein the rear axle 35 is shown as provided with a pair of oppositely extending 77. The eyelet 78 has an elongated tubular shank 81 in which are a pair of diametrically opposed parallel slots 82. 7

When the eyelet 78 is assembled on the rubber tire 76, it will be forced through the central aperture 83 thereof, and the ends 81a of the split shank 81, which protrude through said tire 76 will be bent back upon themselves to bite into the material of said tire (see Fig. 3).

To assemble the wheels 19 upon the rear axle 35, the slots 82 in the eyelet 78 will first be alinecl with the wing lugs 75, and the wheel will then be forced upon said axle as far as it will go. The end of the axle 35 will then be headed over at 84 to hold said eyelet in place. It is to be noted that the wing lugs extend a slight'distance through the opposed slots 82 and are embedded within the rubber material of the tire 76, which construction assures a firm grip of the axle 35 upon the wheels 19 and prevents the latter from rotating with respect thereto. The front wheels 18, however, freely rotate on the front axle 20 in the usual manner.

Lighting system A pair of headlights 85 and 86 are attached to the front end of the toy automobile, and each consists of a small flashlight bulb 87 threadedly engaged within a reflector socket 88 and 89, secured to the body 11 of the car. Electrical energy is supplied to the bulbs 87 by a pair of conductor wires 90 and 91 under the control'of a switch mechanism 92 which serves to complete the circuit through a pair of small dry cell batteries 93 located in axial alinement with each other underneath the chassis 10.

In order to provide means for detachably securing the batteries to the chassis 10, a double pair of obliquely diverging lugs 94 and 95 are formed integrally out of the body of' the chassis 10. A pair of spring clips 96 and 97 are anchored to the oblique lugs 94 and 95, as by means of rivets 98, and the lower edges of the clips 96 and 97 are rounded outwardly at 99 and 100 to faci'itate the insertion of said dry cells 93 into their respective clips 96 ,and 97. The dry cells 93 are held against longitudinal movement by means of a pair of depending lugs 101 and 102 formed integrally from the chassis 10 and adapted to engage the opposite ends of the two assembled batteries 93. The front lug 102 is longer than the rear lug 101 and is adapted to engage against the zinc bottom of the adjacent battery 93 for the purpose of grounding the negative terminal of the batteries to the chassis '10.

The switch mechanism 92, previously referred to, consists of a vertical contactor lever 103 pivoted upon an angle bracket 104 supported by an insulating block 105,,the latter being secured to the chassis 10 as by a pair of rivets 106.' The bracket 104 is attached rigidly against the top surface of the insulating block by a pair of termi- 'nal rivets 107, the lower heads of which are located in a. groove 108 formed in the base of the block 105 out of contact with the chassis 10. Both. conductor wires 90 and 91 may be connected to a single terminal .rivet 107.

The contactor lever 103 is pivotally connected at an intermedate position to an upright member The lower extremity of the lever 103 isforwardly offset and curved at 113 to facilitate the contacting of the same with the projecting positive pole 114 of the rear battery 93. The upper end of said lever 103 is provided with a horizontal handle member 115, to which ready access may be had through a window opening 116 in the body 11 of the vehicle. The switch may be manually operated to turn on the headlights 85 and 86 by merely pulling the lever 103 forwardly as far as it will go.

Operation.

29 will then be turned in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 1 until the power spring 28 is completely wound up. The brake lever 71 will then' be released, whereupon the rear wheels 19 will be set in motion to propel the toy in a forward direction and at the same time cause the siren 50 to operate and produce a loud whistling sound. The sound of the siren will at first be of low pitch, but will gradually increase to a high pitch with the acceleration of the vehicle until the maximum speed is reached, and will then gradually diminish in pitch as the car slows down.

It will be understood that in case the toy is manually pushed or pulled along the door, the clutch mechanism wi'l prevent the spring from being affected. p

While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus ful'y described the invention, what is claimed as new and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

1. In a toy automobile, a running gear, a chassis mounted thereon, a key winding hub journaled in said chassis,a spring motor attached to said hub and anchored to said chassis, a driving gear secured to said hub, said running gear including a driving axle having a pair of rear wheels nonrotatably secured thereto, a pinion rotatably journaled on said driving axle and meshing with said gear, a one-way clutch for connecting said pinion to said axle, and a sound producing means operatively connected with said rear axle and having rotatably mounted radial air impinging blades, the pressure of the atmosphere upon said blades serving to check the speed of unwinding of said motor and controlling the speed of the vehicle.

2. In a toy automobile, a running gear, a chassis mounted thereon, a spring motor on said chassis, said running gear including a driving axle driven by said motor and a pair of rear wheels nonrotatably secured to said driving axle, and a sound producing means automatically driven by said rear axle and having rotatably mounted radial air impinging b'ades, the pressure of the atmosphere upon said blades serving to check the speed of said motor.

3. In a toy automobile, a running gear, a chassis mounted thereon, a spring motor on said chassis for driving said automobile, and a siren having rotatably mounted air impinging blades operatively connected with said motor for producing a prolonged sound while the automobile is in motion, the pitch of which varies with the speed of said automobile,- the pressure of the atmosphere whereby said spring may be wound by a key or by pushing said automobile rearwardly along the floor, and a siren having air blades operatively connected with said axle, the pressure of the atmosphere on the blades of said sirenserving to control the speed of said automobile.

5. In a toy automobile, a running gear, a chassis mounted thereon, a motor carrying drop frame attached to the underside of said chassis, a key winding hub journaled in said frame and having an enlarged flange non-rotatably secured thereto, a spring motor having its inner end attached to said hub and its outer end anchored to said drop frame, a large driving gear secured to said hub and stabilized against lateral bending by said flange, said running gear including a driving axle journaled in said drop frame and having a pair of rear wheels non-rotatably secured thereto, a pinion on said driving axle operatively connected with said large gear, and a sound producing means having rotatably mounted radial blades operatively connected with said axle and automatically driven whenever said vehicle is in motion, the pressure of the atmosphere on said blades serving to automatically control the speed of said automobile.

6. In a toy automobile, a running g ar, a chassis mounted thereon, a spring motor on said chassis, said running gear including a driving axle driven by said motor, a siren having radial air impinging blades driven by said axle, and a supporting member for attaching said siren to said chassis, the pressure ofthe air on the radial blades of said siren serving to control the speed of said automobile, the pitch of said siren being proportional to said speed. I

7. In a toy automobile,'a running gear, a chassis mounted thereon, a spring motor. on said chassis, said running gear including a driving axle journaled in said chassis, and a pair of rear wheels non-rotatably secured to the ends of said axle, a one-way driving clutching mechanism located between said motor. and said axle whereby said spring may be wound by a key without operating motion, the blades of said siren also serving to control the speed of said automobile.

8. In a toy automobile, a running gear, a spring motor operatively connected with said running 00', r

gear for driving said automobile, a siren having rotatably mounted air-impinging blades operatively connected with said motor for producing a prolonged sound while the automobile is in motion, the pressure of the atmosphere against said blades operating to check the rateat which said motor unwinds, and means to automatically disengage said siren from said motor when said automobile is pulled or pushed forwardly along the ground.

9. In a toy automobile, a. running gear, a spring motor operatively connected with said running gear for driving said automobile, a siren having rotatably mounted air-impinging blades operatively connected with said motor for producing a prolonged sound while the automobile isin motion,'the pressure of vtlie atmosphere against said blades operating to check the rate at which said motor unwinds, and means to automatically disengage said siren from said motor when said automobile is pulled or pushed forwardly along the ground, said means being operative to maintain said siren and motorin connected relation when the automobile is pushed rearwardly along the ground.

10. In a toy automobile, a running gear, a spring motor operatively connected withsaid running gear for driving said automobile, a siren having air ,blades driven from said motor, the pressure of the atmosphere against said blades serving to control the speed of said automobile, and means including a one-way driving clutch mechanism 11. In a toy automobile, a running gear, a spring motor operatively connected with said running gear for driving said automobile, a siren having rotatably mounted air-impinging blades, means for rotating said blades at a speed, suilicient to produce a prolonged sound of siren type when the automobile is propelled in a forward direction along the floor under the influence of the spring motor or of a force other than that of the spring motor, the pressure of air built up in said siren by said rotating .blades acting as a governor to control the speed at which said means rotates said blades, and means between the spring motor and the means which cause rotation of the blades of the siren for causing the siren. to become operative as a siren when the automobile is moving in a forward direction under the propulsive force of the spring motor.

CLIFFORD G. HERBST. 

